Somewhere in England, in the Autumn of 1955, a widowed father and his son live an idyllic life together. Only their gas station happens to sit on a piece of land that a local developer wants to buy. And when he won't take no for an answer, and sets government inspectors and social workers onto Danny and his father, Danny and his father decide to get even with Hazell and his pheasant- shooting friends in a manner in keeping with their own family tradition.

This is an excellent example of Roald Dahl's mastery, without the fantastic, exaggerated creatures and characters that we have come to know in books such as, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach.